Kick-Ass #5 - Marvel - Icon

Another fantastic Mark Millar book. I don't know how he can pump out this much tremendous stuff and still have so many original ideas to present. Unbelievable! Anyways, this issue Dave finds out that there's a new super-hero in town. He goes by the moniker of the Red Mist. He also seems to have gathered quite a following rather quickly. But a lot of it seems to be because he's a lot more media savvy than Dave ever was. Of course most of the time when he saw the media he was beaten up and lying in the street. Anyways, he gets jealous and decides to go back out on patrol after lying low for a while. Of course eventually he comes across the Mist. Come to find out, he's a huge fan of Kick-Ass. And most of the stories that Dave's been reading about him were either embellished, or . . simply misquoted. Not that the media would ever do that. Anyways they develop a friendship and Dave starts to learn a few things. At first he thought Mist was associated with Big Daddy and Hit-girl. But then he finds out . . . "He was an asshole. Just like me . . . and I suddenly found my new best friend. Seventy years of comic-books suddenly made sense. I finally got why superheroes worked in twos and it wasn't because they were embarrassed. It wasn't because they felt a little less stupid hanging out with other people in masks and capes. Team-ups happened for one very simple reason. They were fun." But then they come across a burning building. A lady is crying because she says her little boy Charlie is still in apartment 17C. So without regard for his safety, Kick-Ass goes running in. The Red Mist isn't quite as ambitious but he has to go along to help his friend. They finally get there and find out that Charlie is the woman's cat. The building starts collapsing around them, and they come crashing through the floors. Eventually they make it out . . with the cat in tow. The firefighters are scolding them for risking their lives, but . . the people watching the fire, and the media . . . " . . when we gave Charlie back to the big fat crazy lady . . the look on her face was a movie moment. This was Superman catching the helicopter. Luke destroying the Death-Star. Everyone had goosebumps and people were in f%#$ing tears. Of course, we promised the cops we'd quit this sh#@, but it was way too late to get sensible now. This was superheroes fighting side by side like Brave and the Bold or Marvel Team-Up. Two million hits on Google. A hundred thousand friends on MySpace. Superhero chat-rooms filling up with Kick-Ass and Red Mist wannabes. We were rock stars. Lifestyle gurus. Pap culture icons dishing out advice on everything from costume designs to relationships. I still can't believe how much we screwed it all up." And then . . . Big Daddy and Hit-Girl show up. They want Kick-Ass to help them with the mob. I don't really think this is what Dave signed up for. He wants to be a hero . . rescuing cats . . standing up for the under-dog . . not putting life and limb on the line for the real problems of the world. I think that's what I like so much about this series. Dave reacts like any other fan-boy would that happened into this situation. It's all glitz and glammor, and fame and recognition, but . . do you really want to get into situation where you could die? And to do it on purpose? I guess we'll have to wait and see whether Dave's that type of hero or not. My guess . . not! By the way . . John Romita Jr is fantastic on this book. I was surprised when issue #5 came out . . I thought #4 was the last, plus it's been about 3 months since the last issue, but . . it was a good surprise. This is a great book. Especially for fan-boys.